KOREA FOUNDATION

COLUMN

Nourished by the history and culture of their home countries,
ASEAN films come into full bloom.ASEAN countries, each armed with a rich trove of traditions and a unique character, have diligently accumulated an impressive filmography over the years.By Park Hye-eun Chief Editorial Officer, The Screen

Hatyai Cineplex in Songkla Province, Thailand ⓒSettawat Udom / Shutterstock.com

The “cultural age” that is the 21st century has reconfirmed the importance of soft power?namely, culture, the arts, and technology. There is no more obvious indicator of this than the movie and entertainment industry. To understand the reach of soft power, all we need to do is remember the immediate and immense global popularity of the Korean movie Parasite and OTT drama series Squid Game. With increasing modern demand for cultural diversity, ASEAN countries are being noted as the “sleeping giants” of soft power based on their abundance of cultural and historic resources.

The country that first comes to mind in terms of depth of cinematic history and artistic sophistication is the Philippines. Having celebrated the centennial of its film industry in 2018, the Philippines has managed to elevate its historical turmoil as a colony of Spain, the US, and Japan into fuel for the cinematic arts. Such efforts have reaped various high-profile outcomes in recent years, including Brillante Mendoza receiving the Best Director award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and “people’s actor” John Arcilla receiving the Best Actor award at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, firmly establishing the Philippines as an ASEAN film powerhouse.

In terms of box office outcomes, Thai movies have the highest global visibility. If international film events of the 2000s were swept by the experimental art films of prominent director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the post-2010 period saw the growth of Thailand’s commercial films. The country is capitalizing on the strength of its horror films in particular to start making itself known in the commercial movie industry through extensive cross-genre experimentation. Banjong Pisanthanakun’s 2013 romantic comedy-horror film Pee Mak was the first Thai film to amass more than 10 million viewers, with Nattawut Poonpiriya’scrime thriller Bad Genius also proving highly popular. By branching out of the horror genre, from romance to action, Thai movies are now box office favorites both at home and worldwide.

Commercial films have also been aggressively released since 2010 in most other ASEAN countries, including Singapore, which is undergoing a film renaissance led by Eric Khoo, as well as Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar. The effectiveness of the now-dominant OTT platform in distributing ASEAN films to international audiences is yet another factor working in favor of the ASEAN film industry’s rapid growth.

• 

  Film still from Pee Mak

• 

  Film still from Bad Genius ⓒFaiz Zaki / Shutterstock.com